Gas pipeline replacement project under way

A pipeline replacement project is under way between Rockwood and Berlin.

Danny P. Gibbs, spokesman for Duke Energy Gas Transmission, said the project is called the Dominion Expansion Project.

"Texas Eastern (an affiliate of Duke Energy) is replacing an existing 24-inch diameter pipeline with a larger, 36-inch diameter one to accommodate Dominion Transmission's request for more pipeline capacity," he said.

The staging area is off of Plank Road near Somerset.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the $83 million, 35-mile long project in September. The new pipeline is designed to transport 223,000 dekatherms a day of natural gas to markets that support Dominion Transmission's Mid-Atlantic Project, primarily local distribution companies in Maryland and Virginia.

It is expected to be in service in November.

Additional projects are being done in Greene, Fayette, Fulton and Franklin counties.

Duke Energy's natural gas operations include more than 17,500 miles of interstate transmission pipeline and 250 billion cubic feet of storage capacity in the United States and Canada. Corporate offices are in Houston, Texas.